This year, Transworld was larger than
it had been in years, due in part to the fact that the Halloween,
Costume and Party Show had, for the first time in a number of years,
reunited with the Haunt Show. The joining of shows was
beneficial to everyone involved, as both attendees and vendors alike
only had to foot the bill to go to one show, not two. What I
really found interesting was that the Haunt Show really dominated
the trade show floor. The Halloween, Costume and Party side
seemed to have a much more modest turn-out, in
comparison.

Regardless of which side of the show
was more sizable, the convention itself was definitely a lot larger than
I had originally anticipated. When I first arrived, I started off
by taking my time talking to vendors; however, I soon realized that I
had better speed up, if I wanted to make my way through the entire show
floor, with the limited time I had left. By the time the show came
to a close on Sunday, I was just barely able to shoot all the video and
take all of the pictures that I wanted to.

To add to their existing
product line, Dark
Raven Designs brought some nice snake and vine animations.
The snakes hissed, slithered and swung out at spectators with
realistic, fluid motions. One of the vine animations
turned and twisted with a winding motion, while another popped
out of holes in the wall.

Inhabiting
the Dark Zone, Dead
House Designs had some nicely distressed cemetery and morgue
wall panels on display. They also had a computer
programmable projection system that simulated the look of
hundreds of roaches crawling on a wall. Unlike DVD-based
projection set-ups, where you are limited to projecting the
content contained on the DVD, this system was fully
programmable, with the capability of changing the number of
roaches and even programming the movements of each individual
roach, if needed.

The
tall archways and the fireplace hidden exit were some of the
more prominent items seen at the Edge
Designs booth. The archways, available in both gothic
and industrial styles, emitted bursts of fog as attendees walked
underneath. The faux marble fireplace had a mantle that
moved upward, revealing the hidden exit underneath. This
would be great for an attraction that wanted a fireplace as a
hidden exit that didn't require their patrons to duck or crawl,
to get to the next
scene.

As
usual, Gore
Galore came to the show with a wide variety of new haunt
products, including numerous actor costumes, costume sanitizer,
a giant animated Goathead prop, an actor-operated Mollusk
creature, oversized Rot Zombie and Village Rat costumes, spooky
wall hangings and more, to enhance their ever-expanding product
line. Gore Galore has always impressed me with their
innovative ideas, fine craftsmanship and attention to detail.

Midnight
Studios displayed an extensive collection of pale static
figures, with characters including vampires, lycans, gremlins
and assorted winged creatures. These figures were
highly-detailed and very realistic. According to their
catalog, many of them are available as static characters,
animated characters and costumes, as well.

Pale
Night Productions expanded their line of props which
combine the elements of video sequences played on flat screen
televisions, synced with real blowing wind, blasts of air/mist
and the movement of animatronic props. "Slaughter
Blades" and "Chainsaw Havoc" were effects that
really caught my eye at the show. Slaughter Blades
featured a girl falling into the spinning blades of a large
industrial fan and Chainsaw Havoc showed a sequence of a victim
trying to escape the attack of a chainsaw wielding maniac.
Both effects featured surprising
finales.

As
usual, Scarefactory
filled the majority of floor space in the Dark Zone. Some
of their new animated props included a rotating bed, living
Grandfather Clock, attacking German Shepard, and numerous
floating spectres; however, what stood out the most was their new line
of clown props, which glowed under black light. The bright
neon colors of the towering clown facade and assorted clown
characters lit up the Dark Zone and were quite a departure
from the drab brown and gray tones that make up the lion's share
of their standard product line.

You
can see the props mentioned above, in the picture / video sections
of this overview.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this review!
Throughout the next several pages you will
find 335 pictures taken on the show floor, at the Renaissance bar and more! The pictures taken
on the show floor are labeled with company names, with hyperlinks to their
websites, so you can find out more information about the products &
services that they have to offer. There are also 27 video
clips of some great animatronics and visual effects that were seen at
Transworld. After checking out this review, feel free to send me an emailand let me know what
you thought of it.